Sunday, August 05, 2007

Looks like they are simply incapable, despite our hopes, of growing a spine!!

The Senate bowed to White House pressure last night and passed a Republican plan for overhauling the federal government's terrorist surveillance laws, approving changes that would temporarily give U.S. spy agencies expanded power to eavesdrop on foreign suspects without a court order. The 60 to 28 vote, which was quickly denounced by civil rights and privacy advocates, came after Democrats in the House failed to win support for more modest changes that would have required closer court supervision of government surveillance. The legislation, which is expected to go before the House today, would expand the government's authority to intercept without a court order the phone calls and e-mails of people in the United States who are communicating with people overseas.

Bush is getting practically everything he asked for. Indeed, under Bush's warrantless-search program launched in 2001, the administration could conduct oversight-free surveillance only if it suspected someone on the call was a terrorist. Under the bill passed by the Senate yesterday, that condition no longer exists.

0 Comments:

About Me

Why is my blog called "Fruit Jar of the Gods"??? Well in one of my favorite books, Tortilla Flats, the main character, bemoaning the ups and downs of his life says to his friends at one point, "My life is like wine poured into the fruit jars of the gods."
(Point of reference: the characters typically did their drinking from fruit jars so apparently they suspected that the gods did the same.)